The De:link//Re:link Brown Bag Talks concentrate on a specific areas of research, both from guests and associated researchers, thus offering a platform for synergies under the umbrella of the project’s own research orientation. In general, each talk will consist of a short input of around 15 to 20 minutes, sometimes based on a text distributed prior to the meeting. The events are planned in a hybrid format.
We are very happy to announce an additional Brown Bag Talk on 16 August 2026 at 13:00 CET. We’ll welcome and get to know the work of our new advisory board member Han Cheng.
China’s Science Silk Road and the New Geopolitics of Knowledge Production
Dr Han Cheng is a senior research scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and an adjunct professor at Université Laval’s Graduate School of International Studies. His research examines contemporary China’s global engagement, with a focus on China-Africa relations and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). He currently serves as a principal investigator for the Volkswagen Foundation-funded project, “China’s Science Silk Road and the New Geopolitics of Knowledge Production”. Together with Anna Lisa Ahlers (MPIWG) and Hang Zhou (Laval), he co-leads one of the first in-depth analyses of China’s international cooperation on science, technology and innovation under the BRI.
Other upcoming talks
21 May 2026
Reform, Opening Up, Going Out:
Africa-China Engagement from the 1990s to the Present
Jamie Monson (Michigan State University)
This talk will focus on a book chapter Jamie Monson is currently writing. The chapter will use experiences and stories from everyday life to illustrate the local, regional and global context of China-Africa engagement from the 1980s to the present. African states and the PRC implemented economic reforms in the context of globalization in the 1980s, becoming more fully integrated into the global trade and production system. As China developed into the world’s new manufacturing center, goods “made in China” quickly took over African markets. Chinese traders were attracted to do business in many African countries, while the Chinese government invested heavily in African infrastructure projects. These activities of “Chinese in Africa” were welcomed at the same time that they were contested. Meanwhile, African entrepreneurs and students traveled to China to pursue new opportunities and as a result multiple and diverse African communities have now become established in China.
15 July 2026
Gwadar, Imperial Outpost since 1862:
A Survey of Archives and Sources
Hasan H. Karrar (LUMS)
Past talks
12 March 2026
14:00 CET
The Belt and Road Initiative and the Evolving Role of Multilateral Development Banks
Valentin Krüsmann (ZOiS)
Chair: Julia Langbein (ZOiS)
15 January 2026
13:00 CET
Navigating the Field in Afghanistan Post-2021:
Epistemological Reflections on Infrastructure (re)Construction and Development Efforts
Katja Mielke (bicc)
Chair: Andrea Fleschenberg dos Ramos Pinéu (HU Berlin)
Discussant: Conrad Schetter (bicc)
13 November 2025
14:00 CET
GCC Economies and Changing Geopolitics:
Connectivity through Sustainability at Sohar Port and Free Zone
Dr. Abdullah Al-Abri
Dr. Dawud Al-Ansari
Chair: Sabine Dorpmüller (AGYA)